


somehow, i just want you more

by WelcomeToTheBadlands



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Also rey gets divorced in the prologue so, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Childbirth, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, F/M, Mentions of Infertility, Mentions of Toxic Relationships, Minor Poe Dameron/Armitage Hux, Minor Rose/Kaydel - Freeform, Pregnant Sex, Rey Needs A Hug, Single Parents, Single mom Rey, Soft Ben Solo, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:49:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23177980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WelcomeToTheBadlands/pseuds/WelcomeToTheBadlands
Summary: When Ben and Rey meet, it's at an inconvenient time.Rey is married, and just moving into the house right next to Ben. That's why they hardly ever talked, besides the small talk they make when they go and check the mail.And then something happens that leads to Rey getting a divorce and confiding in Ben, and the two of them are driven together, for the long haul.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 17
Kudos: 66





	1. prologue - lavender tea

**Author's Note:**

> The corona virus is leaving me bored, so in order to combat it, have an idea for a fic I've been swirling in my head for a while.

Rey met Ben Solo when she and her husband had moved in to a new house. She hadn’t exactly wanted to leave her apartment in the first place, but her husband had practically insisted that it was time for them to settle down somewhere. She was the one that paid for the house and for everything else, with her own money though. Moving in would have sucked a lot more if she hadn’t met him as he was pulling up into his driveway. “Sorry for the moving van,” She said. “We’ll get out of your way as soon as possible.”

“Don’t worry about it,” He has this lopsided grin that makes Rey melt for a second, and then she tells herself that she shouldn’t be doing that and says from across the lawn that she has to continue moving. She’s the one that ends up doing most of the work. But she also got it done faster than her husband would ever hope to.

That had become a pretty common theme in Rey’s life pretty early on into their marriage. She was the one that got things done, it seemed like all the love that this man had given her disappeared as soon as they tied the knot.

She knew that the two of them had married young, in fact she got engaged right on the cusp of her turning nineteen, married when she turned twenty, but at the time it had seemed like a good idea. He seemed like a man that would stick around and provide for her, not want her to take out money that had been given to her by her adoptive parents and grandparents. Now, she was looking for reasons why she did this. “Are you going to hurry up about getting the computer set up?” He asked one day.

“You realize that this is my computer,” Rey said, “I’ll get it set up when I want to get it set up, or you can get up off your ass and do it yourself.”

“There’s no reason to be a bitch,”

“Don’t play that with me, if I’m being a bitch, you’re being a bullheaded dick. What happened to you wanting to move into a house in the first place?”

“God, I thought that you _wanted this_ with all of your talk about having a kid and shit.”

“Will you shut the fuck up?” She said. “I’m getting ready for my job, which by the way, you still don’t have one. So instead of bitching and moaning, maybe you should set up the computer yourself and then look for one instead of wanting me to do it so you can play video games.”

“What the fuck is with you and video games?”

“Nothing, I like video games and I’m better at them than you are too, but when you spend all day sitting on your ass doing that and then you want me to do everything for you, I have a problem with that.”

“Whatever,” He said.

“Yeah, whatever.”

Stupid fights like that started happening all the time. Ones where he would always claim that Rey was being a bitch and he would try to get everything his way. Ones where Rey would point out that even though he didn’t have a job, he would be out for long periods of time and she had no idea what he was doing. He would always make up for it by buying something—usually with her money—or doing something in the bedroom with her.

Rey used to be able to take it.

She couldn’t anymore.

__

He sees her every time he goes out to get his mail. Whether it’s sunny or the street is shrouded in fog, she’s there. Something about her smile just lights up his day but is also incredibly intimidating too. Maybe it’s just his social anxiety, but he can never get through the small talk with her. Eventually he learns that her name is Rey, and that she lives in the next house with her husband. Ben makes a mental note of that and tries his best to bury his feelings from there.

He also notices that a lot of the time, whenever she mentions him, she doesn’t look happy. He never wants to assume anything, but there’s a part of him that always wants to ask her if everything is okay.

Again, he can never find the words.

Then something happened. For a while, he didn’t see her at all. He would see her car in the driveway. Sometimes he could hear her shouting from her house. Then, the second car that was always in the driveway wasn’t there anymore. He wondered what happened, but he would never approach her. He didn’t want to be nosy.

Then he would see another woman coming to the house in a suit and thought that maybe she was a lawyer, or maybe just one of Rey’s friends. Still, Rey was never out there by the mail box at the usual time. When they both checked the mail. He kind of missed saying hello to her, the both of them wishing each other a good day. He missed her smile and her laugh.

Missed how beautiful they were and how nice they were to hear. Thought that maybe she wouldn’t care to talk to him again, and that was okay because she didn’t owe him any visits or anything. Especially because they were practically strangers.

But then one day, she was back at the mailbox. She looked like she had been crying, her hair in a messy bun and she was still wearing her pajama pants when Ben saw her. She didn’t have her wedding ring on either. He couldn’t just exactly not say something, so he asked her, “Are you okay?” He asked her as soon as he saw her.

“Not really,” She said tightly. Then she left, and Ben didn’t see her for another day. The next time he sees her, he’s just gotten home from work and he supposed that Rey has to, because she’s sitting in her car, not going into her house. Ben got out of his car and Rey got out of hers, he waved at her from his driveway and she stared at him for a minute before she asked him a question.

“You coming home from work?”

“Yeah, you?”

“Yeah,” She said. She started to make her way across the lawn. “This might be weird but uh—do you have any lavender tea? I thought I had some but I don’t.”

“I do,” He said, “you want to come in? I’ll heat you some up and then you can just take the rest of my box.”

“A-are you sure about that?” She asks him. “I wouldn’t want to impose,”

“I’m sure,” He said, “you wouldn’t be imposing. It’s just me and my dog so-“

“It’s late,”

“I usually don’t get to sleep until around one in the morning, so trust me, Rey. You’re not imposing.” She nodded and then steps in with him.

“Thank you,” She said. “Really. I’ve been having a shit day and this is so nice,”

“It’s nothing really,” He tells her. She looks so upset still, and he really doesn’t want to pry but something in him just needs to try and make it a little bit better. “You can sit on the couch or whatever, I’ll get your tea ready.”

“Thank you,”


	2. chapter one - something you want

Rey didn’t know what to expect from Ben. The two of them had never really talked before, and now she was having one of the worst days in her life, and she was spending part of it in his kitchen as he made her tea. She wondered if he could tell that she was having a shit day or not. There was a lot of things going through her head as he pressed the cup into her hands and she took it gratefully, “Thank you.” She told him.

“It’s no problem,” He told her. “You can take the rest of the box, I was going to go to the store tomorrow anyways so I can just get more.”

“You really don’t have to do that,” She said as she took a sip of her tea. She tried to just breathe in and let it soothe her, but she was still so tense that she didn’t know what to do with herself.

“I want to,” He said.

Rey didn’t know why it was that of all things that made her start to cry. Ben noticed, because the first thing he said was, “I-are you okay? No, you’re not. Did I do something? Is there something that I can do?”

“Fuck, I’m sorry.” She sniffed as she tried to get a hold of herself. She couldn’t look at him. She stared into her green tea, wishing that she could drown in it. “Sorry, this is embarrassing. I can just go-“

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, what’s wrong? If you want to talk about it. If not you can go-“

“I divorced my ex-husband and I was stupid and had a drunken thing with him and I’m pregnant with his kid,” There it was. It just came out. She felt so awful saying it. Ben didn’t deserve all the problems that Rey was having in her lives right now. The two of them were just strangers. Ben didn’t say anything, but he put his cup down and she looked up at him. “You probably think I’m so stupid,” She said, “or lost all respect for me.”

“I never said either of those things and I don’t think that either,” He told her. There was a hint of firmness in his voice but over all he was concerned and soft. “That sounds like a lot to deal with.”

“It is,” She said, “really a lot. And fuck I just, I can’t even think or process my emotions because I’m feeling everything at once. And I’m sorry, because I shouldn’t be telling you this but I am just so stressed out and I don’t want to tell my friends about how truly freaked out I am because they’ll worried. It just sucks.”

“Does he know?”

“Yeah.”

“What did he say?”

“He said that either we get remarried or he’s not gonna be in that kid’s life at all, and I told him there was no fucking way we were doing that. Because I do not want a misogynistic piece of shit like that anywhere near my child, and he told me that he hoped I lost the baby. I haven’t heard from him since.” She wanted to cry more. She wanted to really sob, but this was already a lot to tell someone that was essentially a stranger.

She hated being this vulnerable to someone. “That’s such a fucking awful thing to say,” Ben said.

“Yeah it is, I don’t miss him at all.” She said. And this time she was being truthful, because as soon as he had told her that, he was dead to her. There was a bout of silence between the two of them before she said, “I just don’t know how I’m going to do anything right now – and it’s probably stupid to keep it but I –” Would she tell him this? Would she tell him about her trouble conceiving before this? No. “I just really want a kid,”

“Rey,”

“Yeah?”

“If you want a kid, it’s not stupid to keep it.”

“Even if it makes everything else so much more complicated?” She finally made eye contact with him again.

“Yeah,” He said, “it’s something that you want, and wanting something doesn’t make it stupid.”

“Thank you,” She said. “You’ve been so nice to me when we barely know each other,”

“I have no reason not to be nice to you,” He said. Rey took another sip of her tea, this time it was actually starting to calm her down. The two of them talked more, Rey deciding that they needed to get to know each other. He already knew some of the most intimate things about her life and not the little things. The parts of her personality that weren’t a mess.

So they learned the little things about each other and started to talk into the morning. Rey learned that Ben was an introvert, and his dog liked to sleep a lot. She learned that Ben liked to read, and he was pretty much a jack of all trades. When he got bored, he looked something up on YouTube to see if he could do it, and most of the time it came out mediocre but that was okay because he liked learning new things and would say that he did something. She also learned that he was a very enthusiastic chef but barely ever had someone to cook and bake for. “If you want, I can bring stuff over every once and a while. If it would help. I promise my food is actually pretty good.”

“Where do you get off being so nice?” Rey said. “You’re going to make me cry again.”

“No, no. Don’t do that.” He genuinely looked worried for a second. “Just – if you want, you know.”

“If it wouldn’t be a problem for you, and you’re bored and have nothing else to do, then sure. But I don’t want you going out of your way for me. Seriously.”

“Okay then,” Ben said. “I’ll make you something easy. Bring it over, you could try it.”

“That would be great,” Rey said.

They keep talking. Ben learned that Rey used to be really creative. She liked to paint and draw and sew, she could knit exceptionally well, and she used to write, but she stopped after her ex told her that she was bad at it. She stopped most of the things that she liked doing after her ex told her that there was no point in doing the things that she liked because they were either stupid, or she was bad at them.

“Are you going to get back into that stuff now?”

“I haven’t really thought about that,”

“I think you should,” Ben said, “and honestly I never met your ex but he sounds like a jackass.” Rey chuckled a little when he said that.

“He was. I’m not sure that I’ll have time for all of that though.” At some point she had finished her tea and the two of them were still talking. “You never know unless you try,” He said. “But I get it. Still. I’m of the belief of you shouldn’t let how good you are at something dictate if you do it or not. If you enjoy it, that’s important and you should go for it with everything that you have.”

“I like that,” Rey said. “I’ll have to keep that in mind.” That’s when she looked at the time. “Shit,”

“You gotta go?”

“It’s two in the morning, I am so sorry that I’ve kept you this long.”

“It’s okay,” He told her, “really. I liked talking to you.”

“I just didn’t want to be alone,”

“You’re not alone.” He told her. And for a second, she believed him. She smiled, her eyes getting teary.

“Thanks for listening to me,” she said. “Now um – I gotta get some rest before I head to work again.”

“Okay, bye.” He said. He walked her to the door and she left, feeling a little bit better than when she had entered.


	3. Chapter 3

It’s two weeks before Rey and Ben really interact again. She’s been busy, working her ass off. She got another job, because she knew that she had enough to pay for the house, but not much else that a baby needed. Ben came over on her only off day after those two weeks. He knocked on the door, and Rey opened it. He held a tin of muffins in his head and gave her an awkward smile. “Hey,” He said, “uh I accidentally made too many muffins and I was wondering if you wanted this batch. They uh—don’t have nuts in them if you’re allergic.” Rey could smell cranberry and orange and she realized just how hungry that she was.

“Oh, uh—are you sure? That you don’t want these--?”

“Oh, I’m sure.” He said. “I made way too many for just me and I thought—you know—I should share.”

“What’s the occasion?”

“Hmm?”

“The occasion, that you’re making muffins for?”

“Oh, um—I stress bake.” She could see his ears starting to turn a little red and she smiled. She couldn’t help it. It just seemed like everything about this man was the best thing ever.

“Oh,” She said, she took the muffins from him and invited him inside. After she set down the tin, she took out one of the muffins, not really wanting to let on that she was as hungry was she was. It was one of the best muffins that she’d ever had though, and it wasn’t just because she was hungry. She got so engrossed in eating it that she forgot that Ben was there for a second.

He was probably waiting for feedback. “Mm, sorry. This is the best muffin I’ve ever had.”

“Good, that’s good.”

“Do you want something to drink?” She asked. “I have soda, and uh—orange juice, or just water.”

“Water’s fine,” He said. Rey opened the refrigerator and got him a bottle. They were at a stand still for a second, but then Rey broke the ice.

“So, uh—how’s your day been?”

“It’s been good,” He said, “pretty easy. Took my dog for a walk after I got home from work, that’s about it. You?”

“This has been my only off day in the past two weeks,”

“Oh god, that must be exhausting.”

“Yeah.” She said, “It is. But uh—I’d rather be working extra while I still can than way later down the line.”

Ben nodded. “I can uh—go if I’m encroaching on your off time.”

“No, no.” Rey said. “I’d actually like it if you stayed, um—I realized that I haven’t gotten your number and I thought that it would be good if I have it—also um—I’d really enjoy some company right now.”

He didn’t hesitate before saying, “Okay. Okay, yeah. That’s fine, also if you have your phone, I’ll just put it in.” Rey fished her phone out of her back pocket and opened the contacts for him. She tried not to think about how small he made her phone look when he took it from her.

It was such a small interaction, but she was reminded of how they would always exchange lingering gaze at the mailbox. She had always felt like there had been something there, but she was pretty sure by now she would just be relegated to a friend. That was okay, she wanted someone there and she didn’t want to bother Kaydel or Rose or Jannah because she didn’t want to seem like a burden. “Thank you,” Rey said, “for the muffins,”

“Oh, no problem.” It took a minute but after that awkward pause, the two of them started to talk more and more. Rey had another muffin and Ben sipped at his water absent-mindedly before they moved to the couch.

It was weird how after a while, it just seemed natural to talk to Ben. Her nerves were calmed, and she just talked to him, they let the TV play in the background for noise. Ben told her about how his parents were always bugging him and checking in on him and his dad’s wood working business, and how his grandmother had been the one that had taught him how to cook because his mother was a horrible teacher.

The way that he made anything that he talked about seem entertaining was a talent that Rey wished she had. She just sat there and listened to him with wide eyes. She could probably listen to him for all of eternity without getting tired. _That is the hormones speaking, Rey. He’s just being nice to you and you aren’t used to that._

It was honestly the best day off that she had ever had, and when he left, Rey was left with the feeling of missing him.

__

It was a week before they interacted. Ben was the one who texted first.

He was nervous about it at first but he also wanted to talk to her. The last time that they talked, Ben had left with the feeling that he had just met the first person that he had ever really connected with. She was so beautiful and intelligent and— _he needed to stop thinking in that line of thought._ She was going through a really rough time and right now was really not the right time to crush on her.

Just be supportive.

**Ben: _Hey, I was wondering if you like lasagna or do you not like cheesy stuff?_**

****

**Rey: _I really love cheese, but my stomach has been kind of on and off lately so I haven’t really been able to eat much dairy. Why?_**

****

**Ben: _I’m meal planning and I was wondering if you wanted to split the lasagna? Because honestly it’s usually too much for me._**

****

**Rey: _Ben_**

****

**Ben: _what_**

****

**Rey: _this is the second time you’ve offered me free food, is there a reason?_**

****

**Ben: _…_**

****

**Ben: _maybe I just want someone to share my lasagna with_**

****

**Rey: _I really really appreciate it but I am going to say that you don’t need to go out of your way to help me_**

****

**Rey: _I’m not a charity case._**

****

Ben wasn’t really sure how to respond to that, but Rey called him about five minutes later. “I’m sorry,” She said.

“Why are you sorry?”

“Because, that came out a lot bitchier than I intended it to. I’m really sorry. I’m in my car right now and I’m just so tired and hungry, I just got off my shift and I’m having a really shit day. I am so sorry for the way that sounded.”

“Rey,”

“Yeah?”

“It’s okay,” He said, “I honestly really am meal planning though, and I don’t think of you as a charity case but I wanted to ask you if you wanted a little bit of my food because well—I always see you coming into the driveway at nine to ten o’clock at night, and no one has time to cook dinner at that time.”

“I usually just get drive thru,”

“I can imagine,”

“It sucks.”

“I’ve been there, when I was in college. So—would you like lasagna? I’ll go light on the cheese on your half.” Rey sighed and he could hear her place her head on the steering wheel.

“Why are you so fucking nice?” She said.

“I don’t know,” Ben shrugged, knowing that she couldn’t see him. His dog cocked his head up at him, probably wondering who he was talking to because he never talked to anyone on the phone around this time. “I would feel bad if I wasn’t nice? I guess.”

“That’s cute,” She said, “and yes, I’d love some lasagna, Ben. But I should pay you—”

“You enjoying my cooking is enough payment,”

“Ben,”

“Rey. Seriously. It’s fine. Now, you should get home and rest. It sounds like you’ve had a long day.”

“I have.” She said. “Thank you for everything, by the way.” She sounded like she was about to cry and Ben felt a pang of something in his chest, like he wished that he could comfort her. But this would have to do.

“No problem.” He said. “Drive safe.” That was the end of their conversation.


	4. Chapter 4

Rey was extremely stressed out. In the past four days she had worked so much that she had only gotten about four hours of sleep, she had to go down to the police station to file a restraining order against her ex-husband after he showed up at her place of work, and she had barely eaten. She was starving and she was scared to go out of her home, and she hadn’t ever been so fucking sad in her life. She thought about texting Ben a couple of times but didn’t. She just sat in her bed as this was one of her only days off. It was ten in the morning when someone knocked at the door. She thought about staying in bed and not answering, but then she heard, “Rey, I know that it’s your day off. Open up.” It was Kaydel. Rey got up and moved to the door and opened it, immediately hugging her when she saw her. “Woah, hey.” She held onto her instinctively as she maneuvered in the door and closed it behind her.

Rey held onto her for another few minutes. If she was being honest, she really needed a hug right now. “Hey,” She said, finally deciding to peel herself off of her best friend.

“Hey,” Kaydel said, “no offense but you kind of look terrible.”

“Haha yeah,” Rey sighed, “I guess that I do.”

“Have you eaten?”

“Honestly,” Rey said, “no.”

“Rey,”

“What?”

“You need to eat.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s just this is the first off day that I’ve had all week and I’m fucking exhausted.”

“I get that,” Kaydel told her, “go sit down on the couch and I’ll order us some DoorDash, what do you want?”

“I can pay,”

“Nope, I’m paying.”

“Kay—”

“You can’t argue with me, sit down. I’m going to make you some tea.” Rey shut up and sat down on the couch because honestly, she’d been feeling like shit lately and nauseous a lot of the time.

“Could you get me something light? I’ve been having morning sickness a lot lately and it’s too early for me to eat anything heavier.”

“I’ll get you some noodles, does that sound good?”

“Yeah.”

Kaydel typed some stuff in her phone and then smiled, “Great. It’ll be here in twenty. What kind of tea would you like?”

“Lavender with some milk,”

“Got it,”

Despite being American, Kaydel knew exactly how Rey liked her tea prepared and even used her electric kettle as well. Kaydel sat back on the couch and gave Rey her tea, watching Rey blow on it a little before sipping at it apprehensively. “I heard about the restraining order thing,” She said.

“Yeah,” Rey said, “it sucked and it was really stressful but the cop that helped me file it was really nice and got me a chocolate bar after so that was a plus.”

“I’m glad that you did it though, he sucked ass.”

“Yeah, I know.” Rey said. “I still can’t believe I ever married a guy like that, it just feels so stupid.” She stared down into her tea, not wanting to cry or feel like any more of a burden than she already felt.

“Hey,” Kaydel said, “stop it. Okay. Don’t call yourself stupid, that piece of shit is stupid but you’re not.” Rey took a sip of her tea and felt herself relax a little bit more.

“I just wasted so much time on him, you know?” Rey said. “Like—I just—I really thought that this was going to be it. Because my family approved of him that everything would work out the way that it was supposed to and that we would have our white picket fence and a family.”

“Okay but have you considered that this is for the best,” Kaydel said, “I know that it sucked but did you ever really love him? And did you ever really want to have that?”

Rey was silent for a while before saying, “I didn’t really love him. And I did want to have a family, but I didn’t want to have a family with him. And things just seemed to get worse you know—with me not being able to get pregnant or having miscarriages.” Rey swallowed hard and then kept talking. “He just seemed to think that I lost whatever worth that I had, like I wasn’t useful anymore and then he just—stopped working or cleaning up around the house and I was like—I didn’t get married to you because I wanted to be your mother. I want to be a mother, but to an actual child, not a manbaby like him.”

“Oh my god, fuck him. I’m glad that he’s not in your life anymore.”

Rey nodded, her eyes getting a little bit watery. “Come here,” Kaydel said, she opened her arms and Rey set her tea down before hugging Kaydel again. “I think that everything is working out the way that it’s supposed to now, and this kid that you’re going to have is going to be so fucking loved.” She paused, “I also think that you need to relax a little. I can give you some money for doctor’s visits and—”

“Kaydel, you know that I don’t like accepting money.”

“But you don’t have to do this all by yourself, you realize that right?” Rey nodded but before she could say anything else the door rang.

“I’ll get it,” Kaydel got up at lightning speed and turned around the corner and opened the door. “Are you the delivery guy?”

“Uh—no. Sorry to disappoint, is Rey home?”

“Yes, sorry. Let me get her,”

“Rey! Some tall guy is here for you.” It was Ben. Oh god, she looked like absolute shit today.

“Uh, give me a minute.” She ran to the bathroom and threw her hair up in a pony tail so it was less obvious that she hadn’t brushed it and quickly washed her face off and dried it before she came back out to the door where Kaydel was happily chatting away with Ben.

“Rey! So happy that you could join us,” Kaydel smirked and Ben’s smile got bigger when he saw her. “Ben was just telling me about how great he thinks you are,”

That was the first time that she had ever seen Ben blush before, and her heart just absolutely melted. “I just uh—came over to ask if you preferred lemon bars or brownies.”

“Ben, are you baking for me again?”

“No, not this time. My mother uh—she had stuff for a bake sale for charity and she got way too enthusiastic with the sweets so she gave me some stuff so—”

“Rey likes lemon bars,” Kaydel said before Rey could object, “I like brownies.”

“Okay, cool. Cool.” Ben let out a low chuckle and said, “Well I’ll be back with them later, I have some errands but—I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything.”

“No, you weren’t.” Rey said.

“Yes, thank you for coming over, Ben. Your presence was very appreciated,”

When he left Kaydel turned to Rey and said, “Okay so you told me that your hot neighbor was hot, but you didn’t tell me he was that hot.”

“Haha,” Rey said, they almost closed the door when the DoorDash guy came and Kaydel paid for everything before coming in and setting the food out for Rey.

“Okay,” Kaydel said, “here’s what’s going to happen. We’re going to eat and then we’re going to drink more tea because you can’t drink any alcohol, then we’re going to watch shitty reality TV together and cuddle. Got it?”

“Got it,” Rey said, “sounds like a good plan.”

“Also,” Kaydel said, “you got to ask for more days off.”

“I need the money,”

“Rey, let me take care of it.”

“Kaydel, I really can’t ask you to do that.”

“I want to,”

“Yes, I know that you do, but I don’t want to be a burden. Okay?”

“You’re not a burden, Rey.” Kaydel said, “I never said that you were, and you never will be to me. You know that.” Rey didn’t say anything, just smiled and looked down at her hands. “I wish you would just let me give you some money so you don’t have to worry about working,”

“You know that I can’t do that,”

“You know that I can afford it, and yes you can. If not for you you can think of it as me putting an investment towards getting to be a cool aunt in the future,” Rey chuckled when Kaydel said that. “I think that I would be a pretty cool aunt, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Rey said, “I think that you would be.”

“So let me write you a check for two thousand,”

“No,”

“Rey,”

“Three hundred,”

“Fifteen hundred?”

“Four hundred,”

“I don’t think you know how negotiating works,” Kaydel said, “one thousand is the lowest I’m going. You need a break and you can put some of it to the little bean’s future college fund.” Rey felt tears streaming down her face.

“You’re really not going to let this go, are you?”

“No, I’m not.” Kaydel said.

“Just this once, and then that’s it,”

Kaydel didn’t say anything as she took out her phone. “Venmoing you right now,”

“I love you,” She said.

“I love you too,” Kaydel said, “now come on. Let’s eat.”


End file.
